Companies are holding onto significant amounts of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, approximately $19 trillion dollars’ worth. This eye-popping number comes from a recent analysis of the balance sheets of publicly traded operating companies generating over $100 million in annual profits, using S&P Capital IQ data. US publicly traded companies lead the way with over $5 trillion in their treasure chests, followed by Japan with $4 trillion and China with $2.2 trillion. In Latin America, Brazilian firms have over $350 billion available on their balance sheet.

With rapidly growing populations, the demand for good infrastructure and social services in many Latin America and Caribbean countries outstrips the financial and human capacity that governments can bring to bear. Yet growing stability and improving governance are creating the conditions where PPP is a viable tool for delivering infrastructure projects, large and small, across the region.

Sixty-one. That is how many companies on the Fortune 500 list were able to hold their spots from 1955 to 2015. A full 88% fell off during this 60-year period. What caused this corporate extinction? Well, one way to think about this question is to look at those that held their place on this list.

For anyone working in development, the topic of youth unemployment is central, remains virtually unabated, and drives much debate over the right paths, strategies, partnerships, and funding mechanisms. Yet, for those organizations in the trenches, they know that working on improving youth employability can be a critical lever to addressing other problems such as security, drug addiction, and teenage pregnancy. This dynamic is not lost on the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), the innovation lab of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, nor on the International Youth Foundation (IYF).